Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to draw the attention of the House to the serious community concern about a Victorian state government project to develop a major water desalination plant on the Gippsland coast near Wonthaggi, in the McMillan electorate. The $3.1 billion project was announced by then Premier Bracks as the answer to Melbourne’s water supply issue. From day one it has met with strong community opposition. There are serious concerns about the potential impact on the environment and the amenity of the area and about the total lack of communication on the part of the Victorian government. The Bass Coast Shire Council has consistently asked the state government to justify its decision and to engage in an open dialogue with the Bass Coast community, but to no avail.

This is typical of the arrogance of the Victorian government. It has demonstrated on innumerable occasions its willingness to ignore and override local planning and environmental concerns. The frustrations of the local community was such that a local action group, Your Water Your Say, resorted to legal action in the Federal Court. It challenged a government decision to annex a planned pilot plant from the major work to avoid it being subject to an environmental effects statement. Sadly, the group lost this action, and they now have hanging over them the threat of having to pay the legal costs of the federal and state governments.

In defence of its move to pursue costs in the legal action, the Victorian Premier cynically referred to ‘vexatious litigants’ opposing government projects. Does this mean that government decisions that raise legitimate planning and environmental concerns for community groups cannot be tested in the courts without the threat of them facing crippling legal bills? The federal and Victorian governments should both waive these costs in the interests of open government and accountability. These costs have been estimated at $50,000 to as much as $200,000. This is a pittance when compared to the overall costs of the project, given the amount of money the Victorian government is spending on its media campaign to try to justify the project to an unconvinced community.

There are two other issues that raise questions about the Victorian government’s commitment to open government and community consultation. As I have already mentioned, they have bypassed the requirements of the environmental effects statement process to proceed with drilling and other preparatory works. They are also prepared to call for expressions of interest for the desalination plant, an 85 kilometre transfer pipeline, power supply and the purchase of renewable energy. At the same time, Victorian government officials have been visiting properties along the proposed route of the proposed powerline to run north from Wonthaggi to connect with the existing grid in the Garfield-Nar Nar Goon area.

The desalination plant will initially require a power supply of 90 megawatts rising to 120 megawatts. In this context, it is interesting to note that this is around the anticipated output of a proposed wind farm development at Bald Hills to the east of Wonthaggi—which I pray will never go ahead—and that the proponent of this project has, with the support of the Victorian government, sold its interest to the Japanese corporation Mitsui.

More recently, the Victorian government released its environmental effects statement on the project as a fait accompli. The EES comprised no fewer that 11 volumes and 80 supporting technical reports. The EES was released on August 20, and the Bass Coast Shire and opponents of the project were given less than six weeks to respond. This is democracy Brumby-government style.

The concerns I have raised so far relate largely to the lack of proper community consultation and cooperation on the part of the Victorian government. Other concerns include: the capital costs of the project; the financial impact on water users outside the metropolitan area; the environmental costs, including the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the power consumed; the pumping of highly concentrated brine into the marine environment; and the disposal of solid waste generated by the desalination process. These are all serious issues that are being brushed aside by the Victoria government.

This is a flawed project the Victorian government intends to implement through a flawed process and over the well-founded objections of local government and the local community. It is a poorly thought out and expensive response to a serious issue facing the Victorian community. Even if it is completed on time, it will not deliver a single drop of potable water for four years. Nor will it be operational full-time: potential bidders for the building and operation of the plant have been advised that there will be periods when the plant will not be required to operate.

The Rudd government has a role to play in this. It committed to the Wonthaggi desalination project when still in opposition during last year’s federal election campaign. I call upon the Rudd government to withdraw any federal funding for the project until the Australian government has made its own assessment of the environmental and economic viability of the project. I also call on the environment minister to withhold any approval required for the project based on the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act until such time as the Victorian government’s EES can be independently tested. (Time expired)

Kelvin Thomson (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In June 2007 the Victorian government released Our Water Our Future, the next stage of the government’s water plan to secure Victoria’s water supplies for at least the next 50 years. That water plan includes building a desalination plant in the Wonthaggi region. Desalination is the fastest growing form of water provision throughout the world. It creates new drinking water supplies that are not rainfall dependent and is therefore a drought-proof source of water. Once in operation, the desalination plant will provide 150 billion litres, or 150 gigalitres, of water each year to Melbourne, Geelong and, via other connections, to towns in Westernport and South Gippsland.

The Wonthaggi region on the Bass Coast was chosen as the preferred site for the plant following a comprehensive feasibility study which examined a range of potential locations. The Wonthaggi region was found to have the best mix of features needed for a desalination plant, including ready access to open ocean water for intake, freely circulating ocean water for rapid dispersal of saline concentrate and suitable connections to existing water distribution infrastructure. The desalination plant will use approximately 90 megawatts of electricity, which will be offset through the purchase of renewable energy credits. In other words, the plant’s operations will be carbon neutral; and, importantly, the renewable energy source will be in addition to the government’s current renewable energy target.

An environment effects statement, or EES, for the project has now been completed. It is an extensive environmental assessment, with input from over 200 scientists, environmental engineers, and experts in areas such as marine ecology, flora and fauna, landscape, energy efficiency and waterway health. Key findings include: (1) penguins will not be impacted by the operation of the plant; (2) seals, whales, orange-bellied parrots, giant Gippsland earthworms and hooded plovers, and their habitats, will not be significantly affected by the project; (3) the saline discharge will dilute within a very short time and will be subject to a works approval application to the Environment Protection Authority; (4) dinosaur fossils beneath the sands of Williamsons Beach, adjacent to the plant site, will not be affected by the plant’s construction or operation; and (5) there will be small reductions in local larval numbers in the order of less than one per cent but no wider impact on food chains.

Furthermore, an independent economic report has established that there will be significant economic benefits from the construction of the desalination plant, including the creation of over 3,000 full-time equivalent jobs, 920 direct and 2,260 indirect, during construction of the plant; 150 full-time equivalent jobs, 50 directly on the operation of the plant and 100 indirectly, to support the ongoing maintenance and servicing of the plant; and a billion-dollar economic boost to Victoria during the construction of the plant. It represents one of the most significant infrastructure projects in the state’s history and a commitment to investing in the future. Local companies like the Morwell based company Drilltech and Korumburra based Ancon Drilling have been awarded contracts for work and will benefit.

The desalination plant at Wonthaggi is yet another example of the fact that, when it comes to water, the Liberal and National parties create problems and Labor solve problems—and, even when we are trying to solve the problems they created, they run interference. They try to block solutions yet offer no solutions of their own.

I have four examples. First, state Liberal and National parties trash the Murray-Darling river system by handing over water allocations to irrigators which have run the system dry, and when Labor acted just a week or so ago, purchasing the 91,000-hectare agricultural property Toorale to return some water to the river system, the Liberal and National parties opposed that. Second, Labor in Victoria is building a north-south pipeline to achieve water efficiencies and better secure Melbourne’s water supply and the Liberal and National parties oppose that too, running interference through a campaign called ‘Plug the pipe’. Third, there is the issue of global warming, which is causing southern Australia to lose rainfall and to dry out, but, when Labor acts to set up a carbon trading scheme to reduce CO2 emissions, the Liberal and National parties oppose that too. They say it will drive up prices. What on earth do they think will happen as our water supplies diminish? And, four, they are at it again here with desalination. Labor comes up with a solution; they come up with obstruction. Their pandering to special interests has got Victoria and Australia into the water mess we are in, and this motion shows they continue to be bereft of ideas or answers. The best they can do is to sledge and undermine Labor’s serious efforts to address a monumental challenge of our time: providing water for a rapidly growing population. This motion shows the Liberals as not ready to govern—not ready to govern in Victoria, not ready to govern in Australia.

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The time allocated for the debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.